When the |content= parameter is used, the doc box normally does not show the [edit] [purge] links in the top right corner. Note that if the /doc page exists, a link to it is still shown in the link box below the doc box.

Parameter |1= and the |content= parameter can also be combined, like this:

Then the pagename fed as parameter 1 is used for the [edit] [purge] links and for the /doc link in the link box below the doc box. But the content parameter is used for the content shown in the doc box. The above code means that the content is transcluded as {{Template:Any page/doc|parameters}}. In this example a parameter is also fed to the /doc page being loaded.

Below the big doc box is a small link box that shows some meta-data about the documentation. The link box shows different things depending on what parameters are fed to this template, and in which namespace it is used. In some cases the link box is not shown at all.

To hide the link box, add the parameter |link box=off.

You can also insert customised text in the link box, by defining the |link box= parameter. For example:
|link box=This documentation is automatically generated by [[Template:Country showdata]]

If the documentation page does not exist, the [create] link includes a preload page so that clicking it will pre-fill the edit form with the basic documentation page format. Preload text is also used for the /sandbox and /testcases [create] links.

When this template is on a protected template page it now automatically adds {{pp-template}}, which shows the grey or red padlock in the top right corner. So no need to manually add {{pp-template}} to templates that use {{Documentation}}.

Terminology: Subject namespaces are the opposite of talk namespaces. For instance "Template:" is the subject space of "Template talk:".

This template is usually placed in a subject namespace, within <noinclude> tags. But in some cases this template needs to be on the talk page:

In the Mediawiki namespace, since <noinclude> often does not work in system messages, and since the Mediawiki namespace needs to be kept clean for performance reasons.

When placed on talk pages, this template usually is placed near the top of the page and without <noinclude>...</noinclude> tags.

The /doc, /sandbox and /testcases pages should normally be in the subject namespace, except in the namespaces that do not have the MediaWiki subpage feature enabled: Main, File, Mediawiki and Category. (But currently we only show the /sandbox and /testcases links from User, User talk, Template and Template talk namespaces.) There are also a whole bunch of other technical reasons why the /doc page must be stored under the talk page for those (but only those) namespaces.

This template automatically points its [create] links for the /doc, /sandbox and /testcases to the right namespace.